Category: Strange Strine

Skippy the Bush Kangaroo, probably the most-loved Australian children’s TV program in history, has turned 50 years old.
The first episodes screened in Australia in February 1968 and the show remains popular to this day, though only three series comprising 91 episodes were made.
The show premiered outside of Australia. Its run in Japan had effectively ended before Skippy showed in Australia, mainly because the series was made in color, which did not arrive in Australia until 1975.Skippy told the story of a grey kangaroo and her best friend, a young boy named Sonny Hammond, played by Garry Pankhurst in his only role of significance in an acting career that had finished by his teens. Pankhurst grew up to work in the hospitality business and eventually ended up exporting kangaroo meat for consumption in Asian countries.
Sonny’s father, Matt, was the head ranger at the (fictional) Waratah National Park, as depicted by Ed Devereaux.Other cast regulars included Sonny’s brother, Mark, portrayed by Ken James, the park pilot, Jerry King, played by Tony Bonner, and park receptionist, Clancy, performed by Liza Goddard.
Skippy was the marsupial equivalent to the likes of Lassie, Flipper and Rin Tin Tin, to name a few animal sleuths, solving all sorts of problems and achieving all manner of feats worthy of a superhero.

In addition to the TV series, in 1969 there was also the release of a feature-length film called Skippy and the Intruders. See the movie here.

Skippy’s iconic theme also proved to be a winner for transplanted Pom, Eric Jupp, who wrote and performed it. On the back of the successful son, Jupp released a series of Skippy-themed singles, including the main theme.
Skippy remained an integral part of the Australian TV landscape long after its original run.
In 1992, an updated version of the show ran, called The Adventures of Skippy.
In this show, Andrew Clarke played a grown Sonny Hammond, himself now a park ranger, but who retained strong ties to Skippy.
Even this series had a Japanese angle, as you can find out by watching the show below.

And, just as a bonus, here’s the French version of the show’s opening titles.Skippy – générique en français

A Strayan woman is causing waves for “deep-throating” a dead joey (baby kangaroo).
豪州（ストラヤー）女性が子カンガルーの死体を飲みこみ、「奥まで入れた」として世間を騒がせている。
Pig hunter Natalie Cepeniuk is being attacked online for posting online a photo of her sticking a dead kangaroo’s head in her mouth with the caption that she “may have deep throated a joeys neck.”
イノシシ狩りのナタリー・セペンユックさんがネット上でカンガルーの死体を飲みこむ写真投稿し、「ジョイ＜子カンガルーのこと＞を＜奥まで入れたかも＞」と写真説明を付けた。Cepeniuk, who admits to being no angel following a spate of criminal charges last year, calls her critics “greenies and haters,” and defends her actions.
昨年、数件の容疑で刑事裁判があったセペンユックさんが自称「天使じゃないよ」といい、批判している人々を「グリーニー＜環境保護主義者の砕けた言い方＞とヘイター＜憎む奴＞」と呼び、自分の行動を正当化している。
She may actually be supported by the Australian Government, which advises that there are cases where the humane euthanizing of joeys whose mothers have been killed is the painless option. オーストラリア政府もセペンユックさんも賛同するかもしれない。母カンガルーが死んだ場合、その子カンガルーを安楽死させることが思いやりある選択と助言する。Related Stories‘If I had a bit of meat from the joey no one would be crying about it!’ Female hunter hits back at critics after she posted a photo on social media with a dead joey’s neck in her mouth

Japanese have been legally eating kangaroo for longer than most Australians.Kangaroo meat was imported to Japan and being served in Tokyo restaurants from 1988, five years before meat from the national symbol was legalized for consumption by Australians in all states other than South Australia, where kangaroo could be eaten legally from 1980. (Indigenous Australians had continued eating kangaroo, a traditional food, regardless of the ban.)
Despite the head start, kangaroo meat never really kicked on in Japan, despite its reputation for being a healthy, high-protein, low-fat alternative to beef or pork.RooMeat was promoted in Japan as being a preferred choice of athletes and models, but the “stars” called upon to plug the meat were not household names. Moreover, the meat was promoted with the somewhat mysterious catch copy of “it’s tasty if you cook it.”
Kangaroo meat can still be purchased in Japan, probably most easily from The Meat Guy, purveyor of fine meats.
Kangaroo meat is also promoted as an environmentally friendly choice as kangaroos produce less methane than cattle.
Some people have also adopted kangatarianism, which is essentially a vegetarian diet that allows for the consumption of kangaroo meat.Japan’s kangaroo business was also involved in the kangaroo industry, which focuses around the marsupial’s leather, which is regarded as the strongest source of leather for shoes and gloves.K-Roo kangaroo meat promotionsPremium kangaroo meat promotions

Robert “Bones” McGhie was a dual premiership player (1973-1974) for the Richmond Football Club. The heavily tattooed McGhie started his career with Footscray, returned there following his time at Richmond and ended his career at South Melbourne, the team that became the Sydney Swans. He was a fine defender who perhaps didn’t get the accolades he deserved because of his looks, but he has forever been immortalized for having a smoke and a beer on the football field following the 1973 Grand Final, symbolizing a different age from the current milquetoast world of the AFL and extremely healthy lifestyles.
McGhie’s tale of durries and tinnies has been picked up by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the lead-up to Saturday’s Grand Final, when the Tigers take on the Adelaide Crows. Should the Tiges win, it’s likely to be slabs all round in Melbourne at least.Robert ‘Bones’ McGhie: Famous smoking Richmond Tigers footballer revisits MCG

1973 VFL Grand Final (featuring Robbie McGhie)

1974 VFL Grand Final (featuring Robbie McGhie)

1980 VFL Grand Final (Richmond’s most recent premiership, but not featuring Robbie McGhie)

Ayer’s Rock Cafe is located in a distant corner of Machida, an outer suburb of Tokyo.
Why the cafe located in such a distant tract of Tokyo derives its name from the now non-PC moniker of Uluru is something of a mystery, but it has been operating since 2000 and comes highly recommended by members of a nearby horse-riding club and large private school, so it must be getting something right.For Aussies, there’s nothing on the menu that really makes it worthwhile making the trek out to the cafe for a need to combat homesickness.
The cafe does serve Bundaberg Rum and is decorated with standard Aussie kitsch like tourist-oriented Indigenous Australian trinkets like boomerangs and digeridoos, copies of Australian road signs, a few items of bush jewelry and assorted items from Carlton & United Breweries.
The one menu item that does play on the cafe’s Australian association is Uluru curry.This curry is a dried curry served atop a healthy pile of rice and presented in a way that makes it bear something of a resemblance to Uluru.
The curry is served with side dishes of salad and yogurt, and all are tasty and filling.
The curry is mild and its appearance at least gives something of an Australian flavor that doesn’t seem to come from anywhere else served at the establishment.
Other dishes are tasty, but not noteworthy. They will not disappoint the taste buds, but may not please the pocket.
Recommended are the set menus, which include a main meal, a donut from Daddy’s Donuts, which the cafe also deals in, and a drink for around 1,300 yen to 1,400 yen are probably best.Indeed, the donut was delicious, made with little oil and with a light fluffy taste with a crisp outer crust.
The donut is served with a scoop of ice cream, which can be topped with cinnamon or rum sauce or both, and berries with garnishing of castor sugar.
The dish is excellent and the donuts come in four flavors of plain, sesame, soybean or early grey.
Also recommended is the coffee, which was dark with a rich, satisfying taste and powerful aroma.

In this day and age, it would be unthinkable to use taxpayers’ hard-earned money to promote a campaign promising a 1 million yen order-made trip to Australia for a young bloke sending in photos of a sexy member of the opposite sex.
But, when the shoe’s on the other foot, it seems to be all right.
At least, it was until just a few years ago.
For a while in the late Noughties to early 2010s, Tourism Australia worked desperately hard to arrest a drastic and dramatic decline in Japanese tourist numbers.

Japanese Visitors to Australia 2002-2012

Part of those efforts involved a campaign that Tourism Australia conducted in Japan back in 2009-2010. The campaign played on the Japanese homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings) for Aussie (oojii in Japanese) and prince (ouji in Japanese).
The Oojii Ouji Campaign promised a 1 million yen prize to the entrant that provided Tourism Australia with the best story of a visit to Australia. Participants were also asked to send in a photo of an Aussie they’d enjoyed spending time with. The implied wording of the campaign (using “prince” in Japanese immediately implies a Disney-style, good-looking and virile hetero male who can sweep a woman of her feet) and actual use of only good-looking young Aussie blokes to promote the cause in Japan made it fairly obvious the promotion was all about physical attraction.

Aussie “princes” promoting the tourism campaign

The “princes” Australia sent to Tokyo to promote the campaign were Aborigine Prince Warren Clements, Great Emotion Prince Nick Atkins, Wine Prince Brett Stanley, Beach Prince Shannon Eckstein and Sports Prince Ben Tomkins.
Tourism Australia made no secret of targeting women in their 20s and 30s, a gender-oriented promotion they would not be able to engage in back in Australia.
Actually, it makes sense for tourist organizations to target younger Japanese women. They are less likely to be caught in overtime trap, have more of a chance of building up disposable income (especially if they’re living at home) and can be a bit more adventurous.
Ultimately, destiny made the campaign’s timing disastrous. Before the effects of the campaign could be felt, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck and there were far more serious issues to deal with.

The website featuring “Aboriginal Prince” Warren Clements

Tourism Australia has reverted to a more standard approach to promoting the country in Japan, which no longer has the importance for the Australian tourist market that it held when it was sending 700,000-800,000 people a year Down Under from the mid-1990s to the early Noughties. Hordes of Chinese tourists swooping into Australia have made the need to encourage more Japanese to visit a far less critical issue than it was a decade ago.